In recent years, more and more information terminals have employed a touch panel as an input device. Since a touch panel can be disposed so as to be superimposed on a display panel, it is mainstream to use it particularly in mobile information terminals, for the reason that a larger screen can be used.
However, a touch panel can provide feedback with respect to a user operation only by presenting some kind of information on the screen. For this reason, the touch panel has a problem in that it is difficult for the user to recognize the portion of the screen that is being touched.
Furthermore, with an information terminal, the amount of information that can be transmitted to a user can be drastically increased if the details of content or the like displayed on the screen can be transmitted by providing a sense of touch to a fingertip or the like of the user. However, a touch panel cannot transmit the sense of touch.
To address this problem, a device has been proposed that enables physical feedback to be provided to a fingertip of a user, that is, enables a haptic sensation to be presented (transmitted) (e.g., see Patent Documents 1 and 2). For example, the device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is equipped with a mechanism that enables a display panel provided with a touch panel on its screen to be moved along the thickness direction thereof. With the device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the aforementioned mechanism can move the display panel in accordance with a finger touch by a user, and accordingly, a haptic sensation can be presented to the user.
The device disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a mechanism for vibrating a touch panel in a direction parallel to the input surface thereof, using a flexure displacement type of piezoelectric actuator. With the device disclosed in Patent Document 2, the aforementioned mechanism can provide vibration to a fingertip of a user when he/she performs a predetermined operation, and accordingly, a haptic sensation can be presented to the user.